Revelation 8

Good morning my friends,

From all predictions it is a good day to stay tucked up at home with a nice cup of hot chocolate and the Word of God. Do not feel defeated because you could not make it out for worship. We have had it good for too long. We need to remember that we live in Canada and more specifically, we live in Montreal. This used to be normal, 40 to 60 cm of snow with high winds is a blizzard and blizzards are as dangerous to life as tornados.

It is good that we have forecasters who can give us warning about such storms. They save many people from a lot of heartache, or, at least those who heed their warning. There are always those odd individuals who think they have a “Get Out Of Jail” free card and can avoid any danger to life in the midst of such storms. Most of us who are intelligent and wise listen to the police when they are telling us to stay home. It is a shame that more of us do not heed the warnings God has given us as well.

As we read through Revelation, especially this mornings reading, it is hard for us to relate what we are reading to this wonderful time of Christmas. Christmas is such a great celebration of love, joy, hope and peace. One of the problems is we have relegated it to a time of celebrating childhood, trying to make Christmas as special as possible for them. And why not? It is the celebration of the birth of a baby. Mind you, not just any baby, but the Son of God, who had come to open the door for our rescue.

We would like to keep the time of celebration a joyous event with lots of music, lights, colours and an almost magical time for children. Yet, this is also a very serious time; deadly serious. Just as the weather forecasters tell us what is likely to happen before it arrives, giving us time to prepare, so the Word of God tells us what is going to happen with certitude. So why are we not preparing? Why are we not warning people? Never before in our history are we seeing the world change so quickly when it comes to the predictions of global doom. The debate should no longer be about what caused this. The scientists are now saying that it is too late. Changing our habits may lessen the effects 100 years from now but our course is set for the next fifty years. It is going to happen. What we are reading in Revelation is going to happen.

If this is the case for the events that will take place in nature, earthquakes, floods, famines and such, can we not also accept that the predicted political situation will also unfold? This is no longer happening in the future, it is happening in our life time. We look at our government and think everything is stable but it is not. Things can change rather quickly overnight. Look at what happened in Quebec during Trudeau’s time. Look at what happened globally after 911. Things can change quickly.

These events that are revealed to us in Revelation should not be the things that concern us, at least not the disastrous things. They will just lead to physical death. The thing that should concern us is what takes place at the end of this time; the great judgement. As we googoo over the baby in the manger we have a major “storm” about to hit the world and people are ignoring the forecast. This “storm” will be bigger than any tornado, blizzard or hurricane and it is now within sight. Are we prepared? Are we warning people?

I am not suggesting that we do away with our wonderful Christmas celebrations. The feasts, the music, the colours are all a great reminder that the Father did not leave us to our own demise but laid out a plan for our rescue. Yet, Jesus, the one we celebrate at this time of year, told us that we are part of the rescue mission. We have a job to do. Worship refreshes us and renews us. It renews our relationship and reminds us of our purpose. We need this constant renewal because we have a job to do. But it seems we want the renewal without the responsibility.

Keep in mind the letters to the seven churches. Which one do you identify with? Where are you in this relationship with Jesus? Where are you in understanding purpose? Are we making disciples? Very few of us are. It requires relationship and we are not very good at relationship. Yet, that is what Christmas is about, relationship.

Read over these last couple of chapters in Revelation again. Go ahead and read the one that follows. Look outside and see the blizzard that has hit our city. Use it as an object lesson this morning. Let’s get to work.  

Enjoy!

Good morning my fellow sojourners. I hope your week was somewhat better than mine. My week held many difficulties that mounted up on me and threatened to block out the “Sonshine” in my life. Tiredness, overwork, poor diet, lack of exercise, crowded prayer time were the circumstance that left cracks in my armour, leaving me vulnerable to the many deceptive attacks of the enemy.

This was a week that would demand much patience and endurance. How unfortunate that my supply of patience was wearing thin affecting my determination to endure. Perhaps this is a foreign thought to you, the desire to run and hide. Perhaps it is a relentless thought that invades every activity of your life. Perhaps no one in your circle of friends has noticed this in you, but the greater chance is that everyone not only sees it but feels it from you. These struggles in our character always affect our actions. We can hide it for a time but eventually the things of the heart bubble to the surface in the form of our actions.

Some would say that I am a patient man. I would never agree to this assessment of my character. However, I do know that one of the signs that things are not well with me is when I become less patient and allow it to affect my response to circumstances and people. In fact I no longer respond but instead react. Being a father of nine and running a school filled with growing children, patience is the one thing I cannot do without. However, that is exactly what happened to me this week; my patience ran out.

What a funny phrase that is, “running out of patience”. It sounds like patience is a type of fuel. Maybe it is. Can you imagine what verses the Spirit pressed in upon me this weekend?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience …”

“Love is patient …”

People joke about being careful about asking the Lord for patience because he will put us in a situation to develop it in us. The fact is patience is much more important than many of us understand. Consider what wisdom says about it. We can recognize these scriptures and identify with them:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
       do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
       when they carry out their wicked schemes. (Psalm 37:7)

We have all lived this truth:

A patient man has great understanding,
       but a quick-tempered man displays folly. (Proverbs 14:29)

How about:

A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,
       but a patient man calms a quarrel. (Proverbs 15:18)

Consider what is prized here:

Better a patient man than a warrior,
       a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. (Proverbs 16:32)

Now consider the instruction we have received concerning patience.Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians concerning matters of character:

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)

Be patient, bearing with one another, with that wonderful secret ingredient of love. So, losing control over my temper because of foolish people, Christian or not, is a really bad sign for me. What about you? Paul repeats himself in a rewording of the same instruction to a different church:

And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

Notice how he clarifies it so that we cannot be narrow-minded about it. We must be patient with everyone. Paul put it to the Colossians in such a way that it is difficult for us to ignore:

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)

“As God’s chosen people” is the clue that we are suppose to be different from those who have not yet entered into that incredible relationship with Jesus. The scripture that continues to be a sign post for my own spiritual condition is a simple instruction Paul gave to his friend and apprentice, Timothy:

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2)

James also noted that it is something we must possess but for a different reason than something we have to have with each other. We also need to have patience with God:

You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. (James 5:8)

Sometimes, as we face what we must face, we may allow a thought into our head; “Is it worth it?” This is when we also must remember that God’s ways are not ours and his perspective is so much different than ours:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)

This is who our God is. This describes his wonderful character: “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish.” Peter also explains:

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. (2 Peter 3:14-15)

This speaks of God’s character and how it has benefited us but understand that we are to be “imitators” of God. This means that our patience with people may also bear fruit:

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. (Hebrews 6:12)

What kind of example are we setting? Are people seeing the patience of God in us?

So this gives us the frame work of biblical understanding and instruction on patience. But what are those things that block its growth in us? What prevents the Spirit from developing this Godly character in us in a way that Jesus is glorified through our lives? I named a few at the beginning. Imbalance in our lives always has a destructive nature and usually takes the light away from us instead of pushing us more fully into it. However, there is also another thing that destroys much of the work of the Spirit in us; judgment.

It is difficult for us to have patience with someone who we have also condemned. It is a matter of perspective once again. What is our place of orientation? From what direction are we approaching life? How do we see and understand people and circumstances. The best advice I can give in this is, remember where you come from.

It is amazing but when I want to understand geography and direction I usually relate them to where I grew up. It is my place of orientation in this world, even though I have lived in many different places. For someone out west, down east is Ontario and Quebec. But Ontario and Quebec for me is Upper Canada. I am an Easterner, but for someone in BC I am from the Atlantic region or the East Coast. If I want to understand people and circumstances I must first start at where I came from; I am a sinner saved by grace. Sin is where I was born. If we can remember this than it is amazing the amount of grace and patience we can show people. Consider what Paul wrote to the church in Rome in this regard:

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? (Romans 2:1-4)

There is no room for boasting, for feeling superior or looking down on anyone when we remember that phrase, “a mere man”. We have done nothing to gain our salvation. He has done all the work. His love is no different for my neighbour than it is for me. The only difference between me and an immature Christian is that, hopefully, I have gained some wisdom in my experience in the Lord but it makes me no more saved or any better in service than anyone else. There is no room for me to be found judging anyone. Yet, this judging will reveal itself in my lack of patience toward that person.

We need to keep a proper perspective to our place of origin when it comes to dealing with people:

What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:
   "There is no one righteous, not even one;
      there is no one who understands,
      no one who seeks God.
 All have turned away,
      they have together become worthless;
   there is no one who does good,
      not even one."
 "Their throats are open graves;
      their tongues practice deceit."
   "The poison of vipers is on their lips."
    "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
     ruin and misery mark their ways,
 and the way of peace they do not know."
    "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:9-18)

The thing that keeps us straight in all of this is remembering that the Father loved us all so much that he gave up his Son for us all. Not just for a select few but for anyone who would believe. Instead of considering the lost as our enemy we should see them as brothers and sisters who have yet to find the way. Thus we are patient with them. Instead of impaling the “young in the faith” we should be like older brothers and sisters, bearing with their silliness; being patient for their maturity.

Like joy and peace we cannot isolate patience from the total package; it must begin with love. Patience cannot and will not exist where there is no love, joy and peace. The best place to start our examination of the problem of our patience is with our relationship in Jesus Christ. Is it what it ought to be? 

Good morning my friends,

Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ – that is the greeting of the ancients, of Paul, Peter and John. But of which peace did they speak? The peace of the “body” or the peace of the Spirit? We find both teachings throughout the Christian text. An example is found in Ephesians 2:

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (2:14-18)

Paul is addressing the issue of the unity that should be found in the Jew and Gentile through the bond of peace which we find in Jesus Christ. Paul states simply, “For he himself is our peace…” So that without Jesus there is no peace, in the flesh or in the soul. Those who seek after world peace are on a fool’s errand because peace is a matter of the mind and heart not political will. The only one who holds any sway over the heart and mind of man is Jesus Christ.

So here we have two types of peace; of the Spirit and of the flesh. Of the Spirit:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…” (Galatians 5:22)

Of the flesh:

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” (Romans 14:19)

So, again, just like love and joy, we get it backwards. We cannot possess any form of peace in our flesh unless we first possess the peace of our soul which comes through our relationship in Christ Jesus.

So let us make this clear and establish it from the very beginning of this discussion. You can do nothing to produce peace within yourself. You may try hot baths with candle light; quiet moments with a cup of tea; avoidance of people and situations; yoga and other such dangerous “emptying of our mind” methods. Often our pursuit of peace includes lack of people and quiet. But we live in a noisy and crowded place. What we may set aside for 30 minutes will eventually catch up to us. Something is going to come crashing in to destroy whatever little peace we managed to produce in that bubble of time. This is not the peace that Jesus Christ has offered us.

The peace of Jesus is designed for where we live and what we experience. In other words it is a battlefield peace:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)

What Jesus gives to us he will not take from us. If we have a weak relationship with him then troubles and fears will strip us of that peace but we have done that to ourselves. Peace comes from that confidence and trust in Jesus Christ which is only found in a growing relationship with Jesus. If we stop growing decay will set in and we will find our peace eaten away until we are filled with fear and doubt.

Keep in mind that we are not talking about a world peace. That will only happen if every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord and each one enters into that glorious relationship with him. Remember what Jesus told plainly to us:

“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” (Luke 12:51)

Peace cannot be achieved by political means. In the world peace can only be achieved by brutal force and it is not a real peace but instead a simple absence of violence. Real peace is only found in a relationship of love:

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)

However, what do we do when we have confessed Jesus Christ and we are doing our best to live a righteous life yet we lack peace? There is a real absence of peace in our lives and we know it. Why is this our reality? If this is true for you then ask yourself, “Where is my mind?”

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.” (Romans 8:5-7)

That sounds a bit severe. What does a lack of peace look like? It is dissatisfaction with life in general. You find it hard to be content. You always seem to be searching, aching, like an itch that you can’t scratch. Things irritate you quickly. You are short tempered. It causes you to have a lack of satisfaction in the relationships around you. It causes you to be critical of others. It really is another marker in our relationship with Christ because we know that peace is a fruit of the Spirit:

“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” (Romans 8:9-11)

Ask yourself again this week, “What is my orientation in this world?”

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.” (Romans 14:17-18)

Are we seeking the Kingdom first? Are we seeking things for ourselves first? The wonderful thing is that this first peace leads to the second peace, peace in the body of Jesus Christ:

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.” (Romans 14:19-21)

Paul was dealing with unity issues. As long as people were touting their rights and freedoms there was division. Our orientation changes all of this so that our inner peace also affects the outer peace and we are willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary to live in peace within the body of Christ.

We cannot do much; the Spirit cannot do anything unless our orientation is correct. Our eyes must be fixed on the author and finisher of our faith. He is the source of everything for us and without him we have nothing:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

Seriously, be honest with yourself and the Lord today. Where has your mind and heart been focused? It may not be on anything terribly sinful but if it is on anything other than Jesus it is the wrong thing and damaging to your desire for peace.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

Now, have you noticed how these three – love, joy, peace – are woven together throughout the scriptures? Joy springs out of God’s love for us and out of this joy we find peace hard at work:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7)

The other thing about peace we need to keep in mind is that it is the Father’s design for us. Consider this:

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15)

We were called to peace! If you want it, truly want it, it’s yours. It means letting go and letting the Spirit do his work. Surrender to him, trust him, live a righteous life and he will produce this peace in you; a peace that goes beyond all understanding. But it must first start with Jesus; it must be found in a growing and loving relationship with him.

Now I leave you with this simple prayer:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

Amen! 

Reading: 2 Chronicles 27, 28; Acts 19:1-20

Good morning my friends,

The name of the Lord is not a thing to be trifled with, even in the age in which we live. As I watch society around me today I cannot help but subscribed to the theory of de-evolution. Instead of advancing our culture seems to be shrinking. Technology is growing so there should be more available with which to educate ourselves. The great works of art, great literature, great music is all one or two (maybe five) cliques away on the Internet. Technology is great. However, we do not employ it to increase our culture but instead for our self entertainment. We will watch videos of people doing stupid things or of people have accidents and we will find it entertaining.

We are a people who could enrich ourselves in our own language or in the countless languages available on the Internet. Instead, we use the crudest forms of language to express ourselves. It is not due to environment but instead from laziness. In this we find the most precious name of Jesus used and misused to the point where it ceases to be a name and becomes simply a word used to express frustration, anger, shock. Yet, it is at the sound of this name that demons flee, illness is cured, that knees bow. But, is it the name or is it the person the name represents?

When we consider the incident with the seven sons of Sceva we may discover something a bit different. Some may look at this and quickly conclude that it was a misuse of power that back-fired on these men. Remember they were doing legitimate work in casting out demons. This was being done long before Jesus arrived. However, when these men saw the effectiveness that using the name “Jesus” had they figured they had found a more effective tool. What they failed to understand was that it was not the name that held the power but the relationship with the one to whom the name belongs. That was their mistake. It is the same mistake that is made today.

The demon said to these men:

"Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

To know the name of Jesus is nothing. To know only the name is like knowing the name of your neighbour. You may be able to call to him but just because you know his name will not make you one of his buddies or part of his family. To know is not to be known. To be known is to be possessed by the Spirit of God. This is why Paul had to deal with the 12 men at the beginning of this chapter. These men knew of Jesus but they were not known. It is by the Spirit that we become “in Christ” and “Christ in us”. Without the Spirit we only know the name and not the person of Jesus. To “confess” the name of Jesus is simply to say that we accept Jesus for being who he says he is. His name is precious to us not because it is a more beautiful name than any other but instead because he himself is beautiful.

We do not want to make the same mistake that these seven men made. We do not want to make a religious thing out of the name or out of any ceremonies or acts of our celebration of Jesus. We must always remember who Jesus is by remaining in the Spirit. To the Corinthians Paul had written this reminder:

“He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”

So I encourage you, when you pray, do not simply speak the name of Jesus, speak to him. Do not think that he is “out there” somewhere, but if you are possessed by the Spirit then Jesus is actually part of you. With this, always keep in mind that the one who you are in and who is in you is the instrument of creation. This is the reason demons flee and illness is cured when the name is spoken by those who belong to him. Remember, it is not so much the name as it is the one whom that name represents. 

No matter where a person lives in the world we have all heard the words of Thomas Jefferson penned so long ago, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Words that make up part of the United States of America’s idea of man’s unalienable rights. This idea of “the pursuit of happiness”, which is at the core of the American psyche, has also had a profound effect on the world.

There is nothing wrong in pursuing those things that give us pleasure and great joy. We have plenty of activities that bring a wonderful balance to the mind, body and spirit. We read for the pleasure of reading. We play to balance the effect of work. We enjoy games because they relax us. Exercise can be pleasurable and beneficial for us. If we do not find joy in one activity of exercise we should try another because without the joy it is bereft of any real benefit. Food is another pleasure but too much of any good thing can destroy the benefits.

These are things that can bring us much pleasure and joy but if that is all there is to life it becomes the “pursuit of emptiness” not “happiness”. Unfortunately the way most people have interpreted the idea of the “pursuit of happiness” has led to a lot of emptiness in our societies throughout the Western world. Look around; do you see many happy people? Do you see many smiles? Do you hear much laughter in a crowd, on a bus, in the office? Most people have cut themselves off from others. Their faces show concentration and determination but it is usually about themselves. Consider a simple thing like the popularity of the Ipod. You see them everywhere as people lose themselves in their music. There is nothing wrong with music but in the pursuit of happiness people use it to cut themselves off from others.

This idea of pursuing happiness has turned our nations from communities of people to collections of individuals. Right now people are struggling with the idea of soldiers dying in Afghanistan. They consider those soldiers being cut off from their future, losing everything they love. They consider them doing this for a country that is not really connected to us, for a people to whom we find it hard to relate. They consider this and then they get upset at such a waste of a life. It is because we would argue it from the fact that the soldier had the right to pursue his future; he had a right to his happiness. They fail to understand him paying the ultimate prize for the betterment of humanity. We are too busy pursuing our own interests to consider the happiness of the world. It is no better in the Church.

Consider a simple question just as an illustration: Why do people leave their church? Because they are not happy or because there are things that dissatisfy them? They see the church through the same thinking as the “pursuit of happiness”. I have heard it often: “the teaching was great but there just wasn’t enough other things to satisfy me”. It is our own fault. We are the ones who have been trying to market the church, selling church programs and other such things. We are the ones who have turned the sheep into consumers. So what else should we expect? If a church does not provide enough entertainment to make people happy then they will shop around for another product.

Consider this: why do we possess so much stuff? Even Christians are collectors of “stuff”. We are looking for satisfaction, happiness in things. We keep hoping that this new and improved product is going to be satisfying, helpful and give us a sense of happiness. Yet, such an idea of pursuing happiness turns into a “pursuit of emptiness”. We have becoming unbalanced, looking to our own happiness, desiring our own pleasure, taking care of our own interests. Yet, the Word of God stands out as a beacon to anyone who would possess true joy.

The teaching of the Word flies in the face of the current sense of “pursuit of happiness”. Consider the attitude of Paul toward the Church as he took up his great collection for the believers in Jerusalem. To the Corinthians, in chapter 16, Paul simply wrote instructions on how to prepare the collection, he did not justify the need. He did not have to. One of the keys to our life should be the simple instruction of Jesus:

“Do to others what you would have them do to you.”

This was once known in my school days as the “Golden Rule”. The unfortunate thing is that it was taught as a law instead of as a reaction to love. Love compels us to live in such an attitude. Without love it is just one of those dusty wise sayings that people quote from time to time. If we consider the context of it found in Luke (6) you may be surprised at the full teaching:

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

The attitude of doing to others what you would have them do to you is not found in the context of a loving family but instead in an atmosphere of hatred and violence. “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” It flies in the face of the idea of being paid back for the good you do. It is the attitude of Christ. It is the love of Christ. Consider the wording Paul used:

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Allow me to play with words here for a moment:

“Each of you should look not only to your own happiness, but also to the happiness of others.”

Now let us back up a bit here and move from Luke’s context to Matthew’s as we look at the golden rule. Matthew has included it in his collection of Jesus’ teaching that we refer to as the “Sermon on the mount”. Matthew (7):

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

When I quickly read this it would appear that the last line does not relate to the subject of asking, seeking and knocking but in my haste I am wrong. In fact, it is a beautiful balance. Consider it this way:

“Pray for others, as you would have them pray for you.”

“Ask for others, as you would have them ask for you.”

“Seek for others, as you would have them seek for you.”

How often are we guilty of self-centeredness in our prayers and petitions? We pray for those things that really only have an impact on us or on those whom we love. However, we are suppose to go beyond ourselves and understand that we are a part of the whole. What we do, what we say, what our attitude is like impacts the whole. We have lost this sense if we ever had it to begin with. Remember Jesus’ prayer for us:

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

That we all may be one just as the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Meditate on that for a while. It may just blow your mind. But we have lost that sense of oneness as we have spent generations pursuing our own happiness at the cost of our neighbours.

We need to get beyond ourselves again. From the foundation of love we need to allow the interests of others to overwhelm us. We need to be occupied with one another, with our neighbours, with our community. We need to become philanthropists once more, so the world can see that we love mankind as much as our God does. We need to recapture the practical pursuit of what Paul conveyed in his words:

“Each of you should not only look to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Instead of coming away empty we will come away with the joy of Jesus Christ as his love flows through us and into the world around us. “Do to others, as you would have others do to you.” 

Reading: Judges 9, 10; Luke 14:1-24

Good morning Church,

Have we become too familiar with God? Do we know too much about him? Has he stopped being relevant in our day? I doubt this can be true. Our God is so mysterious and fascinating that it would be impossible for us to grow tired of him even after an eternity. So if this is not the problem we have in the boredom and dissatisfaction with our spiritual walk, what is?

How about the religious systems that we have built around our simple faith? We are not unlike the Pharisees who tried to bring in religious structure to help people in their observance of the Law. We as well have built our systems of preaching, worship, Bible studies and prayer meetings. Yet, as we look around at the lack of interest and at how these are often a stumbling block to us drawing near to God we have to wonder if they have served their purpose.

Do not get me wrong, I am a stance believer and teacher in the vital necessity of studying God’s Word every day, but I believe this must also be lead by the Spirit who will teach us directly, and write in upon our hearts. Jesus must be the center of our existence and the Word is the foundation of our understanding of this relationship. I believe we need to worship daily, but this takes on many various forms, not just the ever popular form of singers and bands. I believe we need to be in deep conversation with our God throughout our day. I believe we need to see him in everything true around us; in relationships, music, art, dance, literature, nature. I think our religious form makes God one dimensional and rather boring after a while. Yet our God is far from boring.

My fear is that we are losing our focus as much as the Israelites did during Jesus’ day. My fear is that we have wondered so far from the narrow way that we have forsaken the invitation to the banquet. We are too concerned about titles and positions to even pay attention to the table that has been prepared for us. Now, when we are invited to join in with the things of God we find all kinds of excuses; I have guests coming so I need to clean my house; I have to get my car into the garage; I have no transportation; I need to work. We have begun to lose the beauty and awe of our God. We have begun to become deaf to the symphony all around us:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
       the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;
       night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language
       where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,
       their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

We must learn to breathe again with our God. Jesus promised us that we would worship in spirit and truth. This to me is the key: spirit and truth. As the Church we have found a form that we have become religious about yet we are told by Jesus that we would worship in truth. Jesus Christ is the definer of truth and this is revealed in the written Word, so we have our measuring rod. Truth is the key. Not everything in the Church is based on this truth as we have fallen into tradition, even new tradition when it comes to worship. Remember this verse:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

You notice that Paul begins with “whatever is true”? Everything must be measured against the truth of our God. But do not discard the word “whatever”. We cannot afford to bore people in their spiritual journey. Our God is far from boring. Look to the diversity and beauty of what our God created. He placed this desire for truth in beauty deep within us. I think the Church needs to explore again what Jesus meant when he said “spirit and truth”. I think we need to rediscover the majesty, beauty and wonder of our God and draw close to him again so that we do not find ourselves on the outside of the great banquet.

Let us seek the face of God with everything we have so he may recapture our hearts and minds. Let us pray for a real revival of God’s children.

Reading: Joshua 7, 8; Luke 13:23-35

Good morning Church,

I think we take our salvation too much for granted. Seriously, I think we do not give it enough consideration. We accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and we go on with life. We assume all is well with our soul and do not give it much more thought. Yet, Jesus warned us:

"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
      "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' (Luke 13:24-25)

The first part of that should give us some clue to how things are, “Make every effort”. Salvation takes no effort at all except the effort of bowing before Jesus and receiving what he freely gives. Then why does he tell us to make every effort, and why does Paul tell us:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)

So if salvation is a free gift what could they possibly mean by this? Salvation comes via our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not a simple matter of saying the right words. It is a relationship that we become engaged in. Jesus is more than just Lord in words, he becomes our Lord and we his subjects and it is a thing of relationship. Without this relationship there is no salvation.

This is the reason that Jesus says these words would be spoken to those who are without relationship with him, “I don’t know you or where you come from.’ How could we ever expect to enter someone’s home to live if we do not know them? This is why so many are now saying that Christianity is not a religion. It is not a thing of systems and ceremonies but instead a relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Every relationship requires work but especially this greatest relationship. It is not a matter of simply praying a magical prayer and all is well. Once we accept Jesus as Saviour we need to make him Lord. Everything in our lives must be put into submission to him. We have to learn to live the prayer, “Not my will, but yours be done”. This takes work. We have to become intimate with Jesus, spending time to get to know him better every day. It means doing what he told us to do not matter the effort and the cost. This is not always an easy thing. It requires the allowance of the examination of the Holy Spirit every day, that he would reveal any thing is us that does not honour our Lord. Once revealed we must be willing to deal with it.

Thankfully this is a pleasure as we come to know Jesus better. It certainly sounds worse than it is but we must be aware of those who bear the name but do not carry the cross. There are many of us who have allowed this relationship to die and yet we still cling to the false hope that all is well with our soul. Jesus warned us:

"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”

I am convinced that we are desperate for a revival of this relationship. Revival is sometimes seen as something that happens to the unsaved but revival is when those who believe are revived from their slumber. Join with me and pray that those who have slipped back to death will be revived in this relationship and all of us will passionately work out our salvation daily. Are you sure of your salvation today?

Reading: Judges 4, 5, 6; Luke 13:1-22

Good morning Church,

Most of us have unanswered questions about life. Typically many of them are concerning why God allowed a certain tragic events to take place in our life or in the life of someone we love. These questions do not normally have answers and so we struggle to justify the “why”. We always seem to need a “why” to find some peace about these things.

In Bible times they answered the “why” by simply assuming that such tragedies were caused by sin. A number of people still believe that today. However Jesus was quick to dispel this notion by indicating that no person is worse than another, that we must all repent or we will all perish. Paul reiterates this truth:

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Concerning our journey in life Jesus said plainly:

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45)

We know this to be God’s ‘common grace’ and it frustrates those of us who believe we should be better treated. Jesus left us in this world to serve him as beacons, messengers of hope in the face of all things in life. We need to get a better grip on our understanding of this if we are to be any good to our God in this world.

I want you to consider that great prayer of Jesus for his disciples and us. This portion was prayed specifically for his disciples but also applies to us today. Read carefully this tiny portion:

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. (John 17:14-16)

What does this mean to you? That we get to walk around this world in some kind of bubble, not to be touched by the tragedies of this life? I feel bad for those who see it this way. No, as Paul describes it, we have not been given a bubble but instead a suit of armour. The armour protects us in the battles that we are involved in but often we do not recognize the battles for what they are. We expect that it will come in the form of some kind of persecution but the enemy is much craftier than that:

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16)

Understand that these flaming arrows are often whispers that are spoken to us in the dead of night as we face common tragedies of life. They are spoken to provoke fear and doubt, to undermine the testimony we have been given as witnesses to the love of God the Father. Why do you think we have been given the shield of faith to protect us against such attacks? This is a simple trust in all the things that have been promised to us.

The fact is that our witness to the greatness of God is never so powerful as when we are facing tragedy. It is when we keep on trusting in the sunshine as well as the rain that people know that our faith is real. Think for a moment; what are the most powerful testimonies you have heard from a believer. Is it not how the Lord led them through the “valley of the shadow of death”? Consider that psalm for a moment.

People often use this psalm as comfort in times of death but I believe this psalm is a source of comfort at all times, no matter the type of “shadow of death” you are facing. It gives us an example of what our relationship with God is suppose to be like:

Even though I walk
       through the valley of the shadow of death,
       I will fear no evil,
       for you are with me;
       your rod and your staff,
       they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

Depression, tragic lose, persecution, loneliness, physical illness; whatever deep, dark valley you are passing through the condition of your soul should be as the psalmist describes it:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
       he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.
       He guides me in paths of righteousness
       for his name's sake. (Psalm 23:1-3)

Understand that he does this even in the darkest parts of the valley you must journey through. There are no detours for believers. We must journey through the same valleys as nonbelievers but the difference is that our Lord is our strength:

“your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.”

“The Lord is my shepherd … he makes me … me leads me … he restores my soul … he guides me.”

This is in the valley of the shadows. Consider this:

You prepare a table before me
       in the presence of my enemies.
       You anoint my head with oil;
       my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5)

The blessings are given in the presence of “the enemy”, in the place of the shadows. In the presence of the trials, sorrows, tragedies he prepares the table and anoints our head with oil and our hearts overflow in thanksgiving. This is our testimony. This is the difference between those who belong to Jesus and those who do not.

There are too many people teaching a false idea that no tragedy will cross our path because we are children of the Father. Yet Jesus himself testified:

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

If we believe that difficulties equal sin then we will waste our lives and our testimonies. Whereas we have been given the opportunity to demonstrate to the world what real faith is when, in the darkness of the valley, we are able to sing with the psalmist:

Surely goodness and love will follow me
       all the days of my life,
       and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
       forever. (Psalm 23:6)

It is in understanding this that Paul was able to write to the Philippians:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

You have been given a tremendous testimony. Do not let it go to waste by listening to lies and trying to find short cuts. There will be many valleys in your life-time that you will have to descend into. The real witness is when we can sing in the rain as loudly as we sing in the sunshine.

 “your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.”

Reading: Judges 1, 2, 3; Luke 12:32-59

Good morning Church,

I was blessed to be raised in a family with a very hard working mom and dad. They did not overwork so that there was imbalance but they did set an example of what it is to work hard and to put their very best effort into everything they did. This work ethic was passed on to their children and we are blessed because of it. It is unfortunate that, in a world where people work hard for promotion, we do not understand the importance of this in relation to the Kingdom of Heaven.

We still live in a world where people consider their religion to be a part of their life that enhances the quality of their life. However, followers of Jesus testify to the fact that it is far different for us because we undergo a transformation that changes our entire perspective. Suddenly we understand that everything we do is done for God, from the unimportant to the mega-important:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24)

This is the attitude we must have to approach a life of service that honours and glorifies our God. No longer are we satisfied with the mediocre; we want to shine in everything, which means hard work. It is not a matter of doing it as well as we can right now. If we have to improve ourselves to do a better job than that is what we do. If we have to go back to college, study on our own, practice, exercise or whatever it is that we have to do to improve then we do it gladly because it is part of our excellent service.

Sometimes we do not see how this relates spiritually and so we become lazy in these things. We also do not try for promotion. Promotion you say? Yes, it is a difficult concept for us sometimes.  In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul writes something I have often struggled over. It is a very small sentence:

But eagerly desire the greater gifts. (v. 31)

We expect people to work hard for promotion in the world. You get hired on in a company and you work hard, hoping to be noticed, hoping to be promoted. Although this is a crude illustration to explain a beautiful spiritual truth it does apply. In the parable of the talents Jesus introduces the idea that when we are faithful with what we have been given more will be given to us. Jesus himself proved faithful in his mission so the Father knew he could trust him with all things and so put everything under his authority.

People say that they are satisfied with where they are spiritually, that they do not desire any great promotion. This is a sad statement because it means a lack of growth, and wherever there is a lack of growth there is decay, and where there is decay there is death. It is natural for us to want spiritual promotion, to grow in our responsibilities, to have more things added to us. Look at what Jesus said in this morning’s reading:

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:48b)

Sometimes we treat this work as a burden but it is no burden; it is a privilege to work for the Master. Everything we set our hands to belongs to him. He is looking for us to have this attitude, to be faithful in these things so he can trust us with other things. With Mr. Moody is started off with a couple dozen children in Sunday School. Soon it grew to thousands of children. As he proved faithful in this more things were added to him. Each new thing came with its own difficulties, beginning stages, struggles before breakthrough. Sunday Schools, a church, revivals, evangelistic campaigns, schools; it just kept coming and he gave it his all until his death.

We may not all be a D.L. Moody or any of the other great heroes from the past, but then again, maybe we are. The only way to find out is to give our 100% to the Lord in everything we do with the understanding that this is exactly his expectation for us. Whether we go on to become another Moody or not or perhaps the best trucker, hair dresser, teacher, politician does not really matter. What matters is that we become everything he has given us life to be, and we do it to the very highest quality. Work as if there is a promotion to be had and may it all be done for his glory. In this way we will again see the likes of Bach, Tyndale, Lewis, Brahms, Bunyan, Ironside, Lincoln and the thousand other greats who have gone before us. Let us rise up to excellence that they world will see the glory of God.

Reading: 22, 23, 24; Luke 12:1-31

Good morning Church,

We are back to priorities today. However, instead of considering it from our infinite point of view of 80 years on this planet let us consider it from an infinite point of view. It is from this point of view that we find a proper point of orientation in which we realize that there is something going on that is much bigger than us. It is from this point of view that we realize how small and unimportant, not to mention wrong, are our goals in life. Does this sound familiar at all:

"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' (Luke 12:18-19)

How many of us approach the goal of our life in this manner. We only want to get to a place of ‘financial freedom’ or ‘independence’; a point in which we do not have to worry about finances but instead we can pursue other interests. It sounds interesting, almost inviting, but this a terrible perspective to be under. It is a goal that does not go beyond ourselves and that is certainly not the perspective of infinity.

Jesus had a great way of exposing such matters by the direct light of eternity. It is by this light that things are revealed for what they truly are:

"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' (Luke 12:20)

Things that do not have an eternal quality or purpose to them are beneath our emotional commitment and time. We are told in Philippians 4:8 to think on only things of eternity quality:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

There is nothing wrong with wealth and all such matters but it is not worthy of our time and energy to pursue. Money is actually an ugly thing. When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples he sent them with nothing so they could discover how the Father looks after these matters. He did the same when he sent out the 72 disciples. He warned us about money becoming a master over us. We need to give attention to these things, not by discarding what we have but by being thankful for what we have, understanding we have what the Father deems necessary. Be content with that.

One of the big temptations I must battle with at the beginning of any new work is “where will the money come from”? A terrible but natural question that comes from our human nature. It is a matter of getting me orientated with the Father’s perspective. What are the priorities in this thing? How much do I trust the Father? What has he proven in the past? It is to my shame that I must face this but in struggling with it I am able to go deeper in this relationship of trust.

Our human nature will always look for short cuts. Adam and Eve thought the “fruit” would be a great short cut to attain the heights of God. The enemy presented Jesus with the same short cut as he showed him al the kingdoms of earth, promising they would be his. In the same way we are enticed to believe the freedom we are looking for can be found in a large bank account. Yet the Father is holding out a true freedom from financial burden:

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? (Luke 12:22-26) 

There is a great deal of wealth in this little paragraph. There are people who waste most of their life, wanting to do great works for God, but instead wait for the finances to come in. I am glad that the heroes of the faith, men like William Booth, George Mueller, D.L. Moody were not men like this. They did not view finances as anything but a tool and for this they trusted God. Each was different in their approach but none of them ever stopped because the coffers were empty; they pressed on, trusting the Lord’s promise.

For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. (Luke 12:30-31)

Do you believe it? Have you proven it? Are you different from the pagan world? Or are you afraid to be different from the pagan world? We are not very different today from the world around us, even though we are supposedly a new creation and under the authority of heaven and live by a different set of rules and priority. It is like we fear to be different, like we fear to live this life that says that finances are not a priority but God’s work is:

"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7)

What are the things we are “thinking on” these days? Are they the ugly things of this world or are they the things of eternal quality? Jesus made this simple statement that should send our little, often make-believe worlds reeling:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:34)

Interesting. It is certainly worth a great deal of consideration today. It may even have some eternal worth.

Reading: Joshua 19, 20, 21; Luke 11:29-54

Good morning Church,

In Jesus’ address to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law he accused them of many things but perhaps the worse is this:

"Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." (Luke 11:52)

This should be an easy matter for us to understand, especially those of us ministering in the field of Christian Education. What is this key of which Jesus spoke?

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
       and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

The reason this key was taken away is because these two groups had turned the Law into the object of worship. It was more about following the law perfectly than it was about honouring, loving and knowing God. This is what we desire to instill in our children and youth because we understand the value of it, but then why are we not pursuing it for ourselves.

The desire for wisdom, knowledge and understanding must be a life-long occupation that only ends when we come to our last breath. There is more knowledge in this world than we could ever attain in a lifetime so why do we stop trying to gain more? The real cornerstone of this is the purpose.

If we were to do it for ourselves, for our glory, for our betterment then we would be fools and we would be wasting our time. However, when we do it with the Word of God being the foundation and purpose then we would discover that God will use all these other things to bring us closer to him and we would become better instruments in his hands. He reveals himself to us in everything of truth.

This takes us back to what Jesus stated earlier:

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you." (Luke 11:34-36) 

This needs to be the rule of our life, in everything we do, in everything we pursue. We only want to fill ourselves with truth and truth is defined by our God, for he is truth. We find truth in creation, in the Bible and in Jesus Christ. We find truth in everything beautiful but we must be careful because not everything beautiful contains truth. Remember that Satan himself can appear as a beautiful angel. We must be careful in our pursuit that we are able to distinguish between truth and distortion of the truth. Whatever we allow ourselves to consume, be it music, literature, movies, dramas, they all change us. We may not think they do but their ideas are assimilated into our being and they change us just as junk food will change our bodies.

The apostle Paul gives us instruction on this with one of those pieces of scripture that has the potential to change us every day if we allow it:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Do you see the criteria set before us? We should measure everything by this. Before you give yourself to anything ask yourself: Is this thing noble? Is it right? Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it admirable? Is it excellent or praiseworthy? We have been endowed with the traits of the Creator. No other creature on the face of this planet makes things of beauty because it wills to. There are creatures that make things of beauty like the clam with the pearl but that is instinct not will. Only man writes great works of literature, art, music, dance, theater. Only man finds beauty and truth in mathematics and sciences. But not all of this contains the beauty of truth. Some of what man does is mediocre and of low value to our spirit and yet it is what becomes the most popular.

God has created us to be a thinking creature and we are to expand our minds as far as we can because doing so honours him who gave us this capacity. However, we must be careful in doing it. We are not to lose the key by worshipping knowledge instead of the one who is revealed to us in knowledge. We are not to pollute ourselves with garbage, taking into ourselves things that do not contain the beauty of truth. This is what I fear we are doing every day, watering down, diluting, polluting the truth within us. We are to measure the worth of all things and only meditate upon the things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and excellent.

All the works of man have the potential for good and evil. Radio can convey great things of beauty and truth or it can produce some of the most awful garbage disguised as truth and public interest, whether it be shows or music. The same is true for the television. It is such a powerful medium to convey good or evil. I am not just speaking about content but the aesthetics of it. We ruin our palette by watching poor productions of drama, listening to second rate music and reading junk literature.

Christians are the worse offenders. Some of the music that passes as Christian has no musical value to it at all. Some of our literature is pure junk in quality. When we look at something written by C.S. Lewis and compare it to most of the stuff written today, whether fiction or instruction we can see how the populace has destroyed their palette. It is true for our architecture as well. God has given us the capacity to weave such beauty into all the things we do but instead we are content with a box-like structure. People will argue that such things do not matter, only the heart matters. This is so true but what are we told that comes out of the overflow of the heart? We are also told that whatever we do we are to do it as if we are doing it for the Lord. So this means that whatever we set our hands to should be of the highest quality as it is the praise that comes from the overflow of our hearts. We should be doing everything with a beauty that conveys the truth of it. It matters. The aesthetics of life matters.

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.   

No half-measures. At one time the world was blessed by men and women who pursued excellence to the glory of God. They gave the world such great works of music, literature, theater, art, mathematics, science. Why do we only produce second rate stuff now? Where is that pursuit of excellence? What are we allowing to pollute our spirit and the spirit of our children? Have we too hidden away the key?

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

It is never too late to get back on track. Everyone is capable of growing in our knowledge of the truth and beauty of our Creator because there is only one stumbling block. Oh but what a stumbling block it is. We are all capable but such a thing requires hard work as we discipline our mind, heart and palette. It requires hard work and we are such lazy people. It is so much easier to turn on the tv and stop thinking than it is to pick up a book of great literature or put on a CD of Boch or even better yet, spend an hour in conversation with Jesus over his Word. Won’t do you it though, for his glory?

Reading: Joshua 16, 17, 18; Luke 11:1-28

Good morning Church,

How much do we believe? That’s a legitimate question, isn’t it? Unfortunately how much we believe depends on what tradition we have been raised in or been introduced to Jesus under. There are churches, having been birthed in the power of the Spirit, who no longer believe the Spirit moves as once he did. They say the times have changed. There are those that were born through the Word, who give no credence to the power of the Spirit, but who also now make excuses why certain parts of the Word need not be followed. We have compromised so much that we no longer even understand who we are. We will follow a certain tradition but many of us have become as Paul described believers near the end of it all:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

“Having a form of godliness but denying its power.” That’s us. Much of the Church operates under a law of conformity. We change our appearance, our language and our comportment but we do not actually allow the Spirit to possess us and control us with his power. This is made evident in our lack of prayer.

In our Prayer Meeting last night we had a good number of people out for the size of our congregation but as we prayed conviction started to enter in about our spiritual deficiencies. It is impossible to stand before our Holy God, standing in his glory and not have our decencies clearly highlighted for us. We lack due to our own failings. It is not that the Father desires to hold anything back from us but how can he equip us for a work we are not engaged in and how can he provide when we do not even know enough to ask?

Jesus gave us a tremendous teaching on prayer. Notice the things he told us to pray about:

" 'Father,
   hallowed be your name,
   your kingdom come.
 Give us each day our daily bread.
 Forgive us our sins,
      for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
   And lead us not into temptation.' " (Luke 11:2-4)

Ask that the kingdom would come to the hearts of all men, women and children. Make petition on behalf of the unsaved. Plead that an opportunity will be afforded you to present the gospel to them, that their hearts would be prepared for that moment. If you do not ask then you will not be prepared. “Lord, bring the Kingdom to the heart of my neighbour. May it be so.”

There is nothing wrong in reminding the Father of your needs for the day. Remember he promised to look after your daily needs if you looked after the affairs of the Kingdom. He promised you food and clothing. So remind him.

Pray about your spiritual condition. It is not enough to wring your hands over what you lack. Seek the Father’s good grace and ask him to help you make changes. You can’t do it on your own. You need his help, his intervention, his strength. Only the Spirit can change our hearts but we are partners in this work. We must be involved. Ask him. He tells you exactly what needs to be and then expects you to ask for help. Our greatest need is the character of the Son which forgiveness is one of the corner stones. If we cannot forgive how can we expect to be forgiven?

We also need to ask that the Lord will help us to stay on the narrow path. It is so narrow, it is easy to take a misstep and find ourselves wandering around on the wide path. We cannot make this journey without the constant companionship of Jesus Christ, and why would we want to? He died for us so that we could begin the journey but he also sent us the Spirit so that we could complete the journey.

How can we pretend to know God? How can we go through the motions without knowing the reason? How can we pretend? Is that not a waste of our life? Is that not the highest form of mediocrity?

Jesus told us it would take sincerity and persistence in prayer. Honestly, how persistent are we?

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10)  

Many of us long for a great awakening of the Church. Revival comes to the Church so that we will again find that first love and seek after the lost which is our mission. We need a renewal of this mission for there are tens of thousands of people dying every day without knowing Jesus Christ. How can we even sleep at night knowing that we have done nothing about this? Have we spent any time on our knees today interceding for the lost? If we have then have we prayed with the fervency of the man who needed bread for his visitor? Note that the bread was not for him but for his visitor. Are we interceding for the lost, those dying without Christ?

Some would say that we need to do more than pray and I say AMEN! to that. However, it begins with prayer for as we pray the Lord opens the door to us that we may have the opportunity to share Jesus with others. It is in prayer that the Lord prepares the hearts of both us and the one to whom we will speak. When the heart is prepared by the Spirit it is an easy thing.

So I pray for all of us: Lord, forgive us for what we have made it!

Reading: Joshua 13, 14, 15; Luke 10:25-42

Good morning Church,

What are your priorities like? Do you have your life set up in priorities? Most of us think we do but we fail at it rather miserably. We start off okay but when things become a bit hard we lose heart and things get shifted on us. A child decides that he is going to learn to ride his bike. It is his top priority for the summer. By lunch time the bike is back in the garage not to be touched for the rest of the summer. It was too hard so he changed his priorities. Another child does not give up so easy and by supper time has conquered the beast and has entered into a new level of freedom.

It would appear that the entire chapter of Luke 10 deals with our attitude toward spiritual priorities. The first is what we looked at yesterday: understanding our mission and not getting distracted by anything in doing it. The second and third have much to do with the two great commandments to love God with our entire being and to love others as ourselves. These must be the two greatest priorities that supersede all other priorities in our lives.

In the case of the Good Samaritan we do not find a man who is distracted easily but instead a man who understands that he has a higher purpose when it relates to responding to the need of a human being. He was obviously a businessman of some sort, on a business trip. I am sure he was as busy as the other two but he felt he had a responsibility to respond to the emergency at hand. In telling this parable Jesus was stating that we have this responsibility. We are not bystanders in life. We are active participants only we have a purpose in it and a greater motivation. Ours is not simply a response of guilt in a world filled with suffering but instead a response of love; for it is love that compels us to respond to the needs of those around us. This must remain a priority for any man, woman and child who abide in Christ.

In the case of Mary and Martha we again find a strong statement that we must understand our priorities. Jesus is not stating here that work is wrong because we have been called by God to ‘do’ not simply to ‘say’. Our God is a God of action and we have been called as his children to action. However, the priority is always to sit at the Master’s feet, to be fed, to be renewed, to be instructed because without instruction we could never expect to grow in our understanding and maturity. This relationship is the key and foundation to everything. It is why it is the greatest commandment. Without this love for God none of the other priorities will be kept in their proper place.

The Word of God is vital but understand that we have the Word of God in three forms. We have the crudest form and yet it is a form of great beauty and that is the creation all around us. We often neglect this form of the Word of God and yet when we immerse ourselves in it we find great renewal in our Spirit, seeing the wonder of God in very practical terms. Then we have the written Word of God, the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit, perfect and infallible. It is in these words that we find the promised Messiah, given to us in all the scriptures of the Old Testament. Study of this is vital to our understanding of the purpose of the revealed Messiah of the New Testament. In these words we find the answers to all our questions.  Yet these two forms of the Word have not comparison to the wonder, might and beauty of the greatest and most important form of the Word of God, the living Word, the Word incarnate; our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not worship creation and we do not worship the Bible but we worship the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

It is the Word of God that brings understanding of all things. As long as this remains our point of orientation we will never feel lost, confused or distracted. We all have the same responsibility as Mary and Martha. We need to make our time at the Master’s feet our priority every day, and not just for a few minutes. We need to spend more time there than anywhere else. We cannot afford to make the same mistake as Martha. We cannot allow legitimate work to become an excuse and distraction from our greatest priority, our relationship with Jesus Christ.

If only we could all understand the importance of this. Do you realize how much you are bombarded by the ideas and thoughts of people who are without Christ? The radio hosts, the news, music, books, movies, television; it is a constant bombardment. Are we to hide ourselves away from it? Impossible. We can certainly be more discerning but we cannot eliminate it completely from our lives. But how much worse it is if we have no point of orientation, no measuring rod to judge these ideas with. If we do not have the truth in us how will we be able to measure what is good and what is evil? How can we possibly hope to have the discernment that is vital for a Christian living in a time when we are surrounded by more voices than in any other age of man?

It is imperative that we cultivate the priority that Mary demonstrated. If not then the work we have set our hands to will cease to be that of the Father’s as we become more and more polluted and diluted by the falseness that we face a thousand times every day. Ideas that are presented in movies, shows, music do not go in one ear and out the other. Like food we assimilate these into our being; ideas change us. If we consume the wrong foods it will have plenty of bad effects on our body. However, if we eat enough of the good stuff then our body is able to combat any of the bad stuff we may on occasion take in. So it is with the wrong point of orientation, wrong ideas and all such things. If we have a steady diet of the Word of God then we are able discern and reject the ideas that do not have the correct point of orientation.

Take a walk today and see his creation as it wakes from its long slumber and marvel at the beauty he has created. Spend time in the study of the Bible and find answers to your questions. Most of all, sit at Jesus’ feet, talk with him and explore his beauty. You will find the strength you need to keep all your priorities in place. You will stay on target with your mission, you will respond to the needs around you with a heart compelled by love and, above all, you will long to begin each day at the Master’s feet.

Reading: Joshua 10, 11, 12; Luke 10:1-24

Good morning Church,

Distractions come easy. Whether in the small things of life or in the great purposes of our existence, distractions will always present themselves to divert us from our intended path. I have several students who struggle with the plague of distractions that seem to swarm them every time they must settle into some great project. I myself am not immune to the many things that would lead my astray, be they stray thoughts or small tasks. It takes a measure of discipline to avoid these diversions but it also takes an overwhelming sense of purpose in everything we set our hand to do.

In this morning’s reading we find Jesus addressing the group of 72 disciples. He was sending them out to prepare the towns and villages for his arrival. He was giving them purpose and authority in that purpose, as he has done for you and me. In these instructions he says something very interesting (many things but one in particular):

Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. (Luke 10:3-4)

“Do not greet anyone on the road.” That’s a bit odd isn’t it? What would be so wrong with greeting someone on the road? Is that not common courtesy? Perhaps, but this work was so vital that the workers could not afford any distractions. Their mission was simple:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. (Luke 10:1)

To stop along the road would be to not fulfill their mission or to be distracted from it. It is similar to what we find in Acts. The disciples had been told to go out into the world, to make disciples, teaching them everything Jesus had taught. However, the disciples became distracted by their successes and struggles within Jerusalem and seldom ventured out of the city. God had to allow a great persecution to fall upon the Church in order to scatter the children throughout the world.

Distractions can look legitimate like the common courtesies, the busyness of ministry, but we need to ask ourselves what is the mission we have been sent to do. Are we doing it or have we become distracted by the many things, activities, ministries, goings on all around us; in the news, in the entertainment world, in politics? We need to know what is going on around us but we do not need to become distracted from our purpose.

I do not want to be misunderstood on this point. Jesus went to parties. He was involved in a lot of social and, I am sure, cultured events. During the height of his popularity he would have been on the top of the list as guest to many social gatherings. Remember what Luke told us; it was impossible for the disciples to include everything that Jesus did because not all the books in the world could contain them. We are a cultured people who require balance. If we spend all our days reading what good would all the knowledge be without being put into action? What good would it be if we spent all our evenings attending concerts or sitting around listening to the great operas or thousands of great music items if we did not allow them to effect our spirit and relationship with God? In all things beautiful we must see the hand of the Master. It would be like always practicing the piano but never performing. We enrich ourselves but never bless anyone which is the reason God gave us that ability. We are expected by God to become everything he has intended us to be; intellectuals, skilled labourers, singers, song writers, mathematicians, scientists, athletes, preachers, teachers, but always with his purpose in mind, not dissimilar to the 72 disciples:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. (Luke 10:1-3)

Everything that we set our hand to needs to be done to the best of our ability, to God’s glory, because he intends to use it to bring him glory and to draw all people to himself. It doesn’t matter if you can see how God can use it, just do it and he will. But we have to settle on this one point, we have had enough of the mediocrity in the Church. Train yourself in the Word of God and you will begin to see the importance of what your mission is in the light of the Word, in the context of God’s plan and you will rejoice that we serve a God who loves us enough to include us in all he does. We are the instruments of his beauty and truth. Us; you and me; can you believe that? Well it’s true and we cannot afford to be distracted from this fact.

Our mission is to go, make disciples and teach them about Jesus Christ. This is done through friendships, through the songs we write, through the dances we perform, through the businesses run and everything else we do. Our love for Jesus Christ and his for the world is revealed in everything beautiful we put our hand to, every activity, every function, every word we speak. Let us not get distracted by the activity itself but let us keep our focus by keeping our purpose sure by keeping Jesus center of it all. The Word of God should occupy more of our time than any other thing in our day. Not a simple reading of the Word but a study of it, prayerfully seeking understanding and application. This is the key to all our successes for Jesus, keeping focus on the purpose of it all.

My friends, live life to the fullest as Jesus intended us to. Create with the heart of the Master; sing, dance, paint, play, write but do not lose your focus on the purpose. In fact it should only be because of that purpose that we have a desire to do any of it. May God be gloried in all the things we do and, as a result, may everyone everywhere come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Reading: Joshua 4, 5, 6; Luke 9:18-36

Good morning Church,

As we consider Jesus laying dead in the grave, between the cross and the resurrection, we hear his voice ask that question, “Who do you say I am?” When Jesus asked his disciples this question it was in the context of what the world was saying. Jesus first asked them the question “Who do the crowds say I am?” How would we answer this first question today?

We have heard a lot from the world in the last couple of years as they produce documentaries and fictional movies depicting their opinion of who Jesus was. Should it really surprise us in this age that we live that the world wants to take the mystery out of Jesus and make him no more than a man? Is that not the same thing the Pharisees and the crowds were doing in the presence of Jesus?

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." (Luke 9:19)

They were willing to consider him as a great religious man, even a prophet, not unlike today. Many people are willing to accept Jesus as a wise teacher who taught about love, but that’s because they have not studied everything he said. Jesus never left a doubt that we had a decision to make. It is a decision between what they crowd thought and what the disciples proclaimed. When asked the question “Who do you say I am?” Peter did not hesitate as he proclaimed “The Christ of God”. After this Jesus made it clear that there was a decision to make here:

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26)

Jesus is not interested in what any one else says about him. He is not interested in their opinions and speculation. He wants to know what you think; who you believe he is. It is when we make that decision of who we think he is that we will be changed forever. Is it possible to accept Jesus as the Christ and then do nothing about it? That’s why the Pharisees would never answer Jesus. That’s why they wanted him dead. If they formed an opinion they would have to do something about it. Jesus was such a threat to their established authority that they could only see him as an enemy. It was only after the resurrection, when the disciples stood before them that any form of wisdom was revealed in them through the respected teacher Gamaliel. At this moment he stated:

Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God. (Acts 5:38-39)

Many governments have found themselves in this place of fighting against God as they have tried to stamp out the Church. When the communists came to power in Russian they stated that the church would be dead in 15 years. Yet, the church is alive and growing in Russia. In all the lands where the government has tried to kill the church it has continued because people had made a choice to believe. They faced that question, “Who do you say that I am?” and their lives were transformed as they denied themselves, took up their cross and followed Jesus. When we respond to that question with our heart can we really remain the same?

As we take this day to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus let us also reflect on our response to this question, “Who do you say I am?”

Reading: Joshua 1, 2, 3; Luke 9:1-17

Good morning Church,

So it’s another Good Friday. Does it hold any significance to you? Does it mean anything? I know a lot of Christians who can’t even bother gathering to celebrate today. It’s not a matter of making anything religious out of it but do you not think that the sacrifice of Jesus warrants marking it together with our brothers and sisters? Can we hear about the Cross too much? Can it ever lose its significance for us?

I guess it depends on our perspective and our heart. If Christianity is nothing more than a religion, filled with duties and ceremonies then we can grow tired of these meaningless things. However, if your perspective comes from the orientation of an eternal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Saviour then the Cross can never lose its significance for us. We understand that it has nothing to do with the actual cross but instead what took place on that cross.

The first thing we do in our beginning relationship with Jesus is recognize that we could never be what God created us to be. Our tendency is toward all the things that are contrary to the nature of God. We may want to do good but there is a battle in us that we could never win. We can’t win it without divine intervention. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the beginning point because it is that sacrifice that makes a relationship with the Father possible. His sacrifice for us paid the punishment that we had to face because of the natural rebellion we were born with. This rebellion had to be covered which is what took place on the Cross. But the Cross is only the door that opened the way for us to enter into so much more.

We have been called into a greater relationship then we could imagine. The Father has called his children into a relationship that also sees us as partners in his work. We are not called to simply worship but we have been called as priests who must act as the Spirit directs us. Consider this morning’s reading:

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. (Luke 9:1-2)

The twelve were those who would help set the foundation of the Church. The authority that was given has been given to all of us because we have been sent out to do the same thing; to preach the kingdom, put the enemy to flight and to heal the sick. The Cross is just the beginning point of this relationship. Even in the second part of our reading we find that Jesus expected action from his disciples:

Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."

He replied, "You give them something to eat." (Luke 9:12-13)

The disciples did not see how this was possible because they still thought from a physical perspective. This would not change until after the Cross, after the Resurrection, with the receiving of the Spirit. However, all of that is available to us today, and it begins at the cross.

We have been given a great responsibility and Jesus set for us our priority. Even when he tried to spend some time alone with his disciples he would not chastise the crowd because he had a priority that was above everything else:

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. (Luke 9:10-11)

He welcomed them; he taught them about the Kingdom; he healed them. As we celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus today ask yourself if it has really made any difference to you. Has it changed your perspective and your priorities? Do you feel that Jesus included you in the authority he gave? If so, what are you doing with that authority? Make the Cross mean something in your life.

Reading: Deuteronomy 32, 33, 34; Luke 8:26-56

Good morning Church,

“Don’t be afraid; just believe.” These were the words of Jesus to a father who had just been told that his 12 year old daughter was dead. Can you imagine how that man’s world just fell apart? Daughters are very precious to fathers, so much so that this father had decided against what the very powerful Pharisee sect was saying and went out to enlist the help of the teacher Jesus. Imagine what must have gripped his heart when he heard those words, “Your daughter is dead”. He could not have been in any better company than he was. I can only imagine the compassion that those words must have been spoken in, “Don’t be afraid; just believe”.

This is the message we hear over and over again as God intervenes in the natural order of things. Every time his messengers appeared they always begun with the words, “Do not be afraid”. Fear is a terrible thing and we fear anything that is different from what we consider normal. Look at what happened to Jesus in the region of the Gerasenes. He cast out the demons from a man who had terrorized the region for a while. He had been there so long people just got use to him; something like our habitual sins. When Jesus threw the demons out he changed what people were use to. This frightened them and they did not know how to handle it. We have a tendency to reject anything that we do not understand because it causes us to be afraid.

This is why God brings with him a message of assurance because when he reveals himself we know something is going to change.

One of the most famous moments of change was when Israel was entering the Promised Land. A great number of things changed all at once. The leadership changed, the sign of God’s presence changed, the provision changed, and their lifestyle was about to change. They were about to go from nomads to conquerors and it was going to require work. As Joshua was facing this daunting task he was given some assurances from God. Moses had assured him with similar words but now he was getting it directly from God. Some have said that this revealed a timid character in Joshua. I think they are dead wrong. When we consider everything that Joshua was facing we realize that any great leader in a similar situation would require divine assurances:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

Sometimes I think we forget who commanded us to be busy with the Father’s work. Sometimes I think we forget who is in control of everything. Sometimes I think we forget that he is always with us until the end of the age, our constant companion. Imagine how it must feel as a family faces the loss of a child or a widow suddenly faces a life alone. Imagine how it must feel to face the loss of a job or the end of your schooling. Remember how it feels every single time we face the unknown. These are the times we need to try to see with the Father’s eyes to understand the “doors” that are being opened by these changes.

Imagine what would have happened if Joshua had allowed fear to rule him. We know what happened when Israel had refused to enter the land the first time because of the fear that had gripped them. We see the results of the people from the region of the Gerasenes who responded to the unknown in fear and asked Jesus to leave them. They missed a great opportunity. However, the father listened to the words of assurance from Jesus and he received his daughter back. If we want to see the hand of God at work we need to face our fears and believe. As change brings fear and as fear tries to grip us we need to hear his words spoken tenderly to us, “Don’t be afraid; just believe”. No matter how large those fears become we need to hear those words, just believe. It requires trust. Do you love him enough to trust him?

Reading: Deuteronomy 30, 31; Luke 8:1-25

Good morning Church,

What is the one thing that possessed the thoughts, actions and teachings of Jesus Christ? The hearts of the people. Sometimes we get so busy with actions that we forget about our motivation. We forget that motivation matters. We forget that the reason behind something is more important than the things we are doing. We read it in so many scriptures but it’s like we hear but don’t understand, we see but we do not perceive:

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
       and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)

We have a tough time allowing the reality of our relationship with God to sink in. We are constantly trying to work from the outside inward. Yet, our God wants to possess our hearts, he desires our hearts, he longs for our hearts. He sees the sacrifices we make yet they come from hearts that do no understand:

“I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
       or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.

 I have no need of a bull from your stall
       or of goats from your pens,

 for every animal of the forest is mine,
       and the cattle on a thousand hills.

 I know every bird in the mountains,
       and the creatures of the field are mine.

 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
       for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
       or drink the blood of goats?

 Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
       fulfill your vows to the Most High,

 and call upon me in the day of trouble;
       I will deliver you, and you will honor me." (Psalm 50:8-15)

Our God is not interested in actions from empty hearts; he wants relationship with us. He wants our love for him to possess our hearts so that we are provoked into action by that love. He is not interested in actions of sacrifice unless the root is a passionate desire for him. We have turned some of the greatest moments of relationship that we read in the Word, such as the last supper, into a meaningless ceremony void of any real significance because our hearts remain empty.

Jesus’ constant battle was over the hearts of the people. He cast out demons so that their hearts would be free of such obstacles. He taught against meaningless actions to free the heart from such tethers. But there was a reason for it; so that hearts would be freed to be possessed by God’s love for us and ours for him. We are so familiar with the parable of the seed that we have stopped hearing. Look at the last line:

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (Luke 8:15)

A noble and good heart; a heart that is in a condition to receive. John came to prepare the way for Jesus. That was heart work; calling people into a place of repentance so that they may be open to receive the seed that Jesus would plant and that the Holy Spirit would cause to grow. It requires a prepared heart to actually hear and retain the Word. It requires a heart obsessed with love to be provoked into action. It requires love to persevere when so many things would try to crowd out that love.

Consider our church. We have seen a lot of people move on in the last three years. They moved on because they did not understand this thing of a heart possessed by love. They saw the difficulties ahead and they did not want to invest themselves in what it would take to push through. They could not persevere because they did not have the relationship with the others that would have provoked them to action. They took the easy way out; they left. Yet, a church is not a club that you join and quit when you like something and when you dislike something. A local church is a family and those who understand these “cords of love” know that they could never abandon family no matter the mess it goes through.

This is what God is like with us. He has made us his family. He is possessed with a passionate love for us. It may not make sense to us but those are the facts. No matter what we face or what we go through he could never abandon us even when we hurt him and disappoint him. He’s Dad and we are his kids. Now it’s time for us to get out of those teen years and into maturity. It is time for us to stop looking for leisure time and get busy with the family business. It is time to stop being afraid of intimacy with our Dad and allow his love to possess our hearts so we will be the sort of kids he can be proud of. Are you listening and understanding?

Reading: Deuteronomy 28, 29; Luke 7:31-50

Good morning Church,

So, how much do you love Jesus? From this morning’s reading we can see that the Pharisee, Simon did not have much respect let alone love for Jesus. There were certain customs of courtesy that a host would show toward his guests. One was the simple custom of having a servant wash his guests’ feet as they entered his home. The roads were dusty and the footwear was sandals so it was a practical service not a ceremonial act. It should bring better understanding of Jesus’ foot washing at his last meal with his disciples.

In contrast to Simon we have the woman who could not stop pouring out her affection for Jesus. She knew who she was and she saw who Jesus was and she could not help but respond to him in the only way she knew how. It is one of several incredibly moving passages in the scriptures. This is man’s attempt to pour love out upon his Creator. This was because the Creator had become more to man now than he had been before. The Creator had entered his own creation to do for us what we could not do for ourselves and in the process he became even more compassionate toward us as he experienced our plight.

Imagine how foreign and ugly Simon’s thought must have been to Jesus at this tender moment. Jesus dealt with the matter with such grace, choosing not to take Simon apart limp by limp as he deserved here. According to the law Simon was right but according to the compassion and grace of God he was plain ugly in his thinking. Who do we more resemble this morning, Simon in his ugliness or the woman in her love and adoration of Jesus?

How is it going with that thankful heart of yours? Are you writing down your list every day of the things God does for you? Are you remembering to thank him? Are you praising him every day for the mercy and grace in the practical things he does for you each day? How is the overflow of your heart going? How are those “words of your mouth” that we spoke about on Sunday? Do you realize the great debt that you have been forgiven? Do you realize what God has done for you? Are you responding with the affection of your entire being? It starts in the heart. It starts there but it spreads every where. Are we worshipping in spirit and truth today, or is the ugliness of our heart showing itself in thought, word and deed?

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.  (Luke 7:47)

Reading: Deuteronomy 26, 27; Luke 7:1-30

Good morning Church,

There are many things we will discover about our God, much of his character that we have not even begun to understand. The Word reveals a great deal and our experience lends credence to the precious truth we read on those pages. There are certain things we can depend on because of God’s character, certain things we come to expect. However, there is something that we may never figure out because it is always changing; something that depends solely upon the will of the Father.

There are many people who will try to convince you that they have figured it out but there is no figuring it out. They will write books, giving you lists of secrets they have discovered that will provoke God into action. They will hold expensive seminars and give you certain methods to extract your will out of the Father. All of this makes it sound like our God is nothing more than a puppet of our will. How can this be? This is certainly not the God I read about in the Jewish scriptures and this is not the character I see demonstrated in the life of Jesus.

How can anyone explain the actions of our God when they are provoked by his mercy, grace and compassion? Some people will be dogmatic and tell you that God will do this and God won’t do that. Even better, they say he can’t. Can’t? It would appear to me that our God will do whatever he decides to do according to his grace. Some people say that it requires faith, which I can understand to a point. Some say God will never do anything for the unsaved, only for his children because it requires us to believe. I can even understand this because of certain incidences we read about. But then how do we explain this morning’s reading along with many other passages we find in the gospels?

We have a Centurion who demonstrates a belief in Jesus along with a great deal of faith. Jesus is surprised and he responds to the desire of the man. We can write quite a few doctrines around this one single encounter. However, this is then contrasted by Jesus’ supposed chance encounter with the funeral march. I do not believe that anything we find about Jesus was just a chance encounter. I believe these were divine appointments that have an eternal purpose. But I ask you, where was the faith demonstrated here? Where was the statement of belief? We do not even have a conversation recorded. We could suppose there was one or we could take it at face value.

Why did Jesus do this? Why did he heal so many people when they did not ask and when they demonstrated no actions of faith or even belief? We can see why in this passage:

When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." (Luke 7:13)

Compassion and grace; God needs no other reason. Why them? Why not another funeral in another town? Can anyone explain God’s grace? Why are the prayers of one family answered while the same prayers of another family are denied? People would respond, “Must be a lack of faith,” “They did not believe enough”. Very few want to consider that it is a simple matter of grace because we want to believe that such things are applied evenly. However, things are not spread evenly in the Kingdom. Our relationship with God is an even relationship; he sees us all the same, we are all his children and he loves each of us the same. Yet, his purpose for each of us is different. Each of us fulfills a work that is dependant on each other, regardless of the level of importance, and it is together that we accomplish the will of God. However, the level of our responsibility is dependent on the portion of grace that is given to us.

We can no more explain what provokes the compassion and grace of the Father now then we can explain it in the life of Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross there were still thousands of blind, sick and dying people in Israel. Why were a few cured, healed and raised from the dead? We do not know but we can praise him for the grace that was shown to these people. If God chooses to leave us in our situation there is a reason and we praise him for it. If he chooses to rescue someone else from a similar situation it is by his grace and there is a reason; we praise him for it. There are no secrets. There is no list. There is no hidden pathway. There is only grace and compassion and the will of God.

We get too preoccupied with these matters, trying to provoke God to do our will when we need to understand we have been left here to do his will. Jesus said not to be worried about ourselves, to concentrate on the Kingdom and the Father would see to our needs. In all these matters Paul discovered contentment, when he became prepared to accept anything God handed to him:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

So let us throw off this silliness and get down to what is really important. Let’s stop trying to provoke God to do things for us and instead mediate on behalf of others. Let’s get back to our concern for the lost and rejected; let’s get back to the heart of the Father.